Gluten Free Blueberry Dump Cake

Gluten free blueberry dump cake is what you bake when you want to eat a cake, but don’t feel like, well, baking. Truly as easy as just “dumping” all the ingredients in and popping it in the oven!

I put “dump” cakes in the same category as slow cookers: I know how popular they are, but I just couldn’t wrap my mind around them.

There are whole books written about them both, maybe even love songs for all I know. And when we’re talking about a harmless subject like how to make a ridiculously easy cake (with an unfortunate name), millions of people can’t be wrong.

They’re called “dump” cakes because, well, you just dump all of the ingredients in a pan and bake them. No mixing.

Even so, I find that the best method—by a mile—is to grate chilled butter into the cake mix. Then gently toss everything all together in the pan before pouring buttermilk over the top and baking it.

I used frozen blueberries since it’s the middle of the winter as I write this and frozen blueberries are where it’s at. But if you make this gluten free blueberry dump cake during blueberry season, you know what to do.

I made this cake quite a few times before settling on the proper proportion of ingredients and method, and the most important piece of advice I can give you is … don’t overbake it. The bottom burns quite easily. Other than that, it really is as easy, and as delicious, as it seems!

Directions

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease a 9-inch x 12-inch (or 9-inch square) baking dish, scatter the blueberries in an even layer in the bottom, and set the dish aside.

Place the cake mix in a large bowl. Using a standard grater, grate the chilled butter into the cake mix and, using your clean hands, toss to coat the butter in the cake mix. Break up the lumps that form in the grated butter until the mixture is uniform and looks like very coarse sand. Scatter the butter and cake mix mixture on top of the blueberries, and stir gently to mix. Pour the chilled buttermilk evenly over the top.

Place the baking dish in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cake is puffed and lightly golden brown on top (about 35 minutes for the 9-inch x 12-inch pan, 40+ minutes for the 9-inch square pan). Do not overbake or the bottom will burn. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before serving with a dollop of whipped cream.

Love, Nicole

P.S. If you haven’t yet, please preorder up your copy of Gluten Free Classic Snacks! Your support keeps the blog running, and it means the world to me.

Gluten-Free on a Shoestring [Second Edition]:

I made this cake this past Saturday. I didn’t get to eat any as I messed up and thought I grabbed a gluten free vanilla cake mix at the store. Turns out it was not. I had guests coming over and I am the only one who is GF so I made it anyway. Everyone said they love it and they ate all of it. I even made cool whip from scratch for it (my first time doing that…it was fun!). I am wondering if you think it would taste good with GF yellow cake mix instead of vanilla.

Tracy McGraw Harvey

February 1, 2015 at 5:02 PM

To reduce the “burning on the bottom” problem that is so common with GF baking, you might try placing a cookie sheet on the rack one level down from the rack your baking item is on. I have had very good luck with this trick.

Tracy, I’m glad you found something that works for you, but for the benefit of others I’d like to be clear that there is no “burning on the bottom” problem that is particular to gluten free baking, if you’re using the right recipe. Baked goods tend to burn on the bottom if there isn’t enough moisture, or (of course) if they’re simply over-baked. Dump cakes have a natural tendency to burn on the bottom as they are, essentially, unmixed shortbread, and not a proper cake batter with the ideal moisture balance.

Elena, Age 11

January 29, 2015 at 4:55 PM

hi Nicole, i have a question. today i made your snickerdoodles from the mix in gfoass quick & easy. they are delicous but super duper soft. i used an equal amount of shortening in place of butter and baked them ten minutes. you have any idea why they would do this?

You will get a much better result with all chilled ingredients, Marmiejean. But feel free to experiment, as always!

Mare Masterson

January 28, 2015 at 10:04 AM

Oh yeah!

Lucy

January 28, 2015 at 10:00 AM

Yum! I haven’t tried a dump cake before, looks to easy to be true :)

Jennifer S.

January 28, 2015 at 10:00 AM

This looks freakin’ awesome and I love me some blueberry cake. AND since it has fruit – that screams breakfast food to me. My kids complain that we eat the same things over and over for breakfast. but then when I mix it up (like bars or bcookies) they turn their noses up. They will NOT do that to this beautiful cake!!!

The link for the vanilla cake mix lists the ingredients for the chocolate cake mix. Do we just delete the cocoa powder for a vanilla cake mix? Eliminating 3/4 cup of dry ingredients seems like it would unbalance the dry/wet ingredient ration.

Jennifer S.

January 28, 2015 at 9:58 AM

No – I’m pretty sure the vanilla one is different. Nicole will see this and update the link.